How to design a tile-free bathroom

Picture this – a chic and functional bathroom constructed without a single tile, that not only looks utterly unique and modern but doesn’t require grouting, making it super low-maintenance.

“Sure, tiles are a sensible and natural product,” says designer Clare Mengler, of Wandoo Design and Construction, “but the appearance of a large tiled surface in the same sheen and colour can look banal, show up smudges and dirt, and really speak its age,” she says.

A bathroom designed using alternative materials can lead to new and vibrant design inspiration. “It can look absolutely stylish,” agrees Clare. “Using alternative products like glass, panelled timber, burnished mirror and marine ply, provides a more matte and textured look,” she says. “Imagine timber paneling in coloured paint, marine ply, charcoal epoxy flooring, tops with upturns for splash backs. I can see extra-high custom skirting or toughened glass panels in the shower walls, or a pour concrete floor coloured with oxide or bleached to pale,” she says. “The possibilities are endless.”

Styling: Kim Pearson. Photo: Brooke Holm

Taking the alternate route, and showering sans tiles, does provide practical challenges however. “It is a unique thing to do and calls for a high level of design consideration and professional know-how, that go well beyond appearance,” says Clare. “I imagine without, it could easily become an expensive nightmare and a dog’s breakfast.”

Budget home renovators could be forgiven for assuming a tile-free zone could be a crafty cost-cutting innovation. “It’s a job for the boundary-pushing, trend-setting creative types who don’t mind a bit of insomnia,” says Clare. “Tiles, being small modules, are handy because they can be cut to fit on site, whereas other materials like glass are manufactured off site, relying on your measure. It would be more often than not, a more expensive exercise to use tile-free.”

Given the space is a wet area, durability and hygiene are essential material factors to consider, including areas like skirting, where tiles are usually used for the purpose of moisture and mopping. “An alternative to the skirting tile, could be very high timber skirting, that is well sealed and painted,” suggests Claire.

Photo: Getty Images

Consider ahead locations for power outlets and plumbing fixtures. “Imagine wanting a power point in a wall and having a glass surface fixed there already – or wanting to change the height or size of your taps or shower head,” she adds.

A tile-free shower requires a hob, and durable, hygienic and water resistant walls, all of which tiles are a designer’s usual go-to. “Installing a fall to the floor of a shower hob would be outright impossible in glass,” she says “Tiles traditionally divide the three dimensional curve required to direct water to a single old-fashioned waste. There are other tile-free options for floors, and there are newer floor wastes which can take a two dimensional fall – such as a linear waste which is a handy solution though it attracts a greater installation time and fuss,” she says.

For bathroom and shower walls, there is a good variety of cool alternatives available, such as PVC and acrylic panels, that are specifically designed for interior wall cladding in wet zones. “There is a huge range available now,” says Clare, “but it’s the junctions between the tricky spots where the design consideration needs to comes in,” she warns. Durable, mold-resistant and 100 per cent waterproof, they can often be fitted over an existing surface, are low maintenance and don’t require grouting. (For great examples, go to Bunnings, PVC Plus, AB Building Products and Gunnersens.